Rising Working Poverty Linked to Housing Costs

Key Takeaways

• A new report by Oxfam Intermón reveals that housing costs have driven Spain's working poverty rate from 11.48% to 15.49%.
• Housing expenses push an additional 770,000 workers below the poverty line, totaling over three million people living in working poverty.

Risk Factors

• Tenancy: 34.08% of tenant households fall into poverty after paying rent, compared to 10.22% for mortgaged homeowners and 7.95% for those who own their homes outright.
• Household Demographics: Working poverty reaches 40% for families with three or more children and nearly 30% for single-parent households.
• Employment and Status: Migrants from outside the EU face a poverty rate of 31.42% (compared to 8.71% for Spanish citizens); part-time workers and self-employed individuals also face significantly higher risks.
• Geography: Madrid leads in working poverty, followed by Catalonia and Murcia.

Economic Context

• Despite a 6% GDP growth between 2022 and 2024, working poverty only decreased by 0.16%.
• At the current pace, it would take Spain 59 years to reach the European average working poverty rate of 8.2%.